85 richest people as wealthy as half of the world's population

Let's put it in perspective, shall we?

2,000 years ago, how many people owned half the worlds wealth?
1,000 years ago?
500 years ago?
200 years ago?
100 years ago?

I don't know the answers, I can surmise, but then again, why remove the righteous anger people appear to be feeling?

reply to post by stargatetravels


"85 people on the globe – who between them control as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population put together – could squeeze onto a single double-decker"

That sentence alone is pretty disturbing.

It's only going to get worse. What will happen as they accumulate more?

reply to post by angryhulk


Then we should send that double decker to Mars, instead of those volunteers. Give them enough to live out their lives in "Austerity" there.

Here's the reason I have issue with the thread.

The focus on 85 people having nearly twice the world's GDP, and as much wealth as half the world's population, is a sound note to play.

Mixing in the notion of the top 1% having a good chunk of the wealth, confuses the picture.

Why?

1% of 7.1 billion is 71 million people.

Now, who is really pushing policies?

71 million people, or closer to the 85 richest?

Surely, it's somewhere in between.

To think that 71 million people are out there hiring lobbyists and buying off government officials is in the realm of la-la land.

When we're talking elite, we're talking royal families, and people of equal status who simply don't hold a title, and prefer not to be as well known.

That's maybe 40,000 people worldwide.

There's only so many people on the world stage.

I think the question is, where do we, as a species, want to go from here?

What kind of system do we want to shape the world into, so that it's more "fair" ?

How do we go about that, exactly?

Until we figure out what we really want, the game will play on.

beezzer


I don't know the answers, I can surmise, but then again, why remove the righteous anger people appear to be feeling?

The anger at least for me is not that they have the money. Its that they have the power and leverage and can Fck the world up financially and walk away then expect me in the middle to pay for there dammed mess.

There would be a alot less anger if every Banker and politican that had there hand in the sub prime morgage scam had been rounded up and every single penny and asset they owned had been striped and used to fix the mess rather than me haveing to pay for it in taxes , inflation and lost jobs. And every idoit that went into the scheme knowing they couldnt pay the banks back should be standing there with the politicans and bankers too.

My prime minsters say "we are all in it together" screw him double as I never had a thing to do with the system. Everything I borrow I pay back and I pay my taxes ect So dammed if I should be "in it" with the bankers and politicans and the mess THEY made.

reply to post by stargatetravels


It's called the central bankers. They have unlimited money so 11 trillion is nothing to them. They can always print more.

blupblup

Clairaudience
What many of you guys fail to see is that being rich doesn't necessarily equal being evil. That stereotype is outdated and does not resemble the reality.

It's not a given no, but you don't usually get that rich and amass that kind of wealth by "being nice"
Nobody is saying every rich person is evil and deserves to be killed, at least I don't think they are, but these megacorporations and multibillionaires don't get rich by paying their full taxes and loving nature and humanity

Fact is, most of the 1% earned their wealth honestly and fairly, by either having a good idea or trying to make a difference. Anyone can make that difference if you are willing to work hard for it, no matter where you live...

Most of them? And you know this for a fact?

A poster here even called for the 1% to be executed, just goes to show that there is a lack of understanding, and in that specific case, a lack of intelligence.

I don't think executed is the answer but we need to redistribute the wealth, I think it's fair.

Considering that the 1% are composed of doctors, lawyers, engineers, small businessmen, some academians, union leaders, some farmers, specialized trades like oilfield workers and deep sea divers, pilots, and so forth, yes, most of the 1% get their income honestly. You guys hear the "one percent" and begin frothing at the mouth, but you have to realize that this includes a whole lot of hardworking and honest people who come from middle and underclass backgrounds.

What's "fair" about taking from one person what he worked hard to earn and giving it to another person who didn't earn it.

reply to post by NavyDoc

Considering that the 1% are composed of doctors, lawyers, engineers, small businessmen, some academians, union leaders, some farmers, specialized trades like oilfield workers and deep sea divers, pilots, and so forth, yes, most of the 1% get their income honestly. You guys hear the "one percent" and begin frothing at the mouth, but you have to realize that this includes a whole lot of hardworking and honest people who come from middle and underclass backgrounds.

What's "fair" about taking from one person what he worked hard to earn and giving it to another person who didn't earn it.

I'm talking about the richest 85 people, not the 1%.
Those 85 richest people did not get their money through hard work and fair play and looking our for their fellow humans.

Also what's fair about millions starving around the planet while 85 people decide the fate of the planet and buy up all the businesses and property of those made bankrupt and destitute by the mess that bankers and the elite made?

What's fair about corporations dumping toxic waste in countries that have no environmental laws?

What's fair about all of the money being sucked upwards by these vultures and the gap becoming wider because they horde all of the money?

F that man....

I'd take the money from the 85 and spread it around, THAT is fair.

crazyewok

beezzer


I don't know the answers, I can surmise, but then again, why remove the righteous anger people appear to be feeling?

The anger at least for me is not that they have the money. Its that they have the power and leverage and can Fck the world up financially and walk away then expect me in the middle to pay for there dammed mess.

Hasn't that always been the case in history?

There would be a alot less anger if every Banker and politican that had there hand in the sub prime morgage scam had been rounded up and every single penny and asset they owned had been striped and used to fix the mess rather than me haveing to pay for it in taxes , inflation and lost jobs. And every idoit that went into the scheme knowing they couldnt pay the banks back should be standing there with the politicans and bankers too.

Too true! But how is this different than say. . . hundreds of years ago when similar schemes were meted out to disenfranchise the masses?

My prime minsters say "we are all in it together" screw him double as I never had a thing to do with the system. Everything I borrow I pay back and I pay my taxes ect So dammed if I should be "in it" with the bankers and politicans and the mess THEY made.

edit on 20-1-2014 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)

edit on 20-1-2014 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)

It is normal to feel anger at those who lie and cheat and defraud us all.



So shall we gather our torches and pitchforks and storm the castle?

How about the masses rise up and depose the Romanovs again.



My point is this; some of those that are openly despised on this thread are the very same ones that propagate these "memes". It keeps us yammering at each other at away from looking at what's really going on.

There have always been the wealthy few that have held the majority of the worlds wealth.

Wealth redistribution won't touch those wealthy few.

What wealth redistribution does, in fact, is destabilize our current system, enable those wealthy few with more power and wealth, and makes us all poorer in the end.

That's right. Wealth redistribution will make the wealthy few richer, and make us all poorer.

Ergo; I refuse to partake in the chorus of outrage. I refuse to play their game.

I will amass what me and mine require to live a happy brief life on this planet, and the devil can take the rest!

But many don't realize that they are being played.

NavyDoc

What's "fair" about taking from one person what he worked hard to earn and giving it to another person who didn't earn it.

No thats not fair.


What is fair is stripping every banker and politican of all there asset when they conduct fraud or damageing action that screw up the econemy to pay for THERE OWN damages rather than make ME who has nothing to do with there stupidity to pay for it instead.

Thats what most of us want. Im propably 1% just, so no we dont want doctors , scientists and other people who got there money HONESTLY to be affected or striped of there wealth. Its the scammers and imbeciles that have got there money by scamming, explotation and political nepitism that are the target.

beezzer

Hasn't that always been the case in history?

Yes but doesnt make it right.
Rape has been prevelent and so have genoside but they are neither right.

beezzer

Too true! But how is this different than say. . . hundreds of years ago when similar schemes were meted out to disenfranchise the masses?

Agree, But as above doesnt make it right or a noble system.

beezzer



I will amass what me and mine require to live a happy brief life on this planet, and the devil can take the rest!

Thats great until oneday one of these scum come along and take your job and lively hood and send you familiy into a spiral of poverty. Or one of there spoilt teenage sons crashes his car and kills you wife and child and get away scot free as hes "too rich" to jail.

reply to post by crazyewok


Must say doctors and such do earn a bit too much as well.
Just look how expensive Healthcare has become, lots of money to made in that sector.

Just talk for 30 minutes with a doctor, and you won't like that bill I bet.

Over here they often make more money than political figures.

Plugin
reply to post by crazyewok

 

Must say doctors and such do earn a bit too much as well.
Just look how expensive Healthcare has become, lots of money to made in that sector.

Just talk for 30 minutes with a docter, and you won't like that bill I bet.

Im British so thats not a problem.

Anyway I think £150-250K a year for a skilled doctor is pretty fair as they would have sacrificed at least a decade of there lives in Med school and completeting there Foundation and Registra years.

reply to post by crazyewok


People do things that aren't "right" all the time. It's a natural outcome of having so many people. People of differing psychological deviations, are cultured in different micro-environments (families), and interact with macro-environments (society), shaping their beliefs of what it is to be right and wrong, and what to believe in (culture).

Rape, murder, and greed will always be with the species.

So the aim should not be after something that's not possible (world peace), rather at something that sets us on a better path for the current terrain, and probable near-future terrain. We will continue to cycle from a more equally distributed, and "fair" system, to a more corrupt, more uneven distribution. We're simply at the point of trying to figure out how to recycle with the world as is.

Parasites will always exist, and I can make a decent point to say they're actually needed as a pressure to keep the species sharp, and progressing instead of regressing.

Let's not be too naive and idealistic. That simply won't get us anywhere. Let's work with what exists, in our nature, and in nature at large, to come up with viable solutions.

reply to post by crazyewok


What's fair?

You bring up a good point with salaries that professionals make.

But I'm betting that there are many that would think that even that is too much for one person to earn. . .

And there lies that "slippery slope"!

If I make 100,000/year that hardly puts me at the top, but for many, they would like to see me punished for earning even that much.

Like the old saying goes"You can't take it with you".These people can help many with their vast wealth and still live like kings and queens but no.Their mortal lives are short and their wealth won't buy them salvation.

blupblup
reply to post by NavyDoc

 

Considering that the 1% are composed of doctors, lawyers, engineers, small businessmen, some academians, union leaders, some farmers, specialized trades like oilfield workers and deep sea divers, pilots, and so forth, yes, most of the 1% get their income honestly. You guys hear the "one percent" and begin frothing at the mouth, but you have to realize that this includes a whole lot of hardworking and honest people who come from middle and underclass backgrounds.

What's "fair" about taking from one person what he worked hard to earn and giving it to another person who didn't earn it.

I'm talking about the richest 85 people, not the 1%.
Those 85 richest people did not get their money through hard work and fair play and looking our for their fellow humans.

Also what's fair about millions starving around the planet while 85 people decide the fate of the planet and buy up all the businesses and property of those made bankrupt and destitute by the mess that bankers and the elite made?

What's fair about corporations dumping toxic waste in countries that have no environmental laws?

What's fair about all of the money being sucked upwards by these vultures and the gap becoming wider because they horde all of the money?

F that man....

I'd take the money from the 85 and spread it around, THAT is fair.

edit on 20/1/14 by blupblup because: (no reason given)

Onward to the revolution comrade!


What's laughable is that the same people crying to destroy others who have more than them cry for more government which caused the problems in the first place.

beezzer

What's fair?

Well that cant be measured in a pay check.

Whats fair is how you got that money. If it was through honest work then yeah that is fair.

If it been got by illegal and unscrupulous means then no it not fair. Missselling products and financial packages, breaking or abusing labour and environmental problems, tax evasion, manipualting markets, paying off politicians to give your business a unfair advantage ect That were unfair comes in.

crazyewok

NavyDoc

What's "fair" about taking from one person what he worked hard to earn and giving it to another person who didn't earn it.

No thats not fair.


What is fair is stripping every banker and politican of all there asset when they conduct fraud or damageing action that screw up the econemy to pay for THERE OWN damages rather than make ME who has nothing to do with there stupidity to pay for it instead.

Thats what most of us want. Im propably 1% just, so no we dont want doctors , scientists and other people who got there money HONESTLY to be affected or striped of there wealth. Its the scammers and imbeciles that have got there money by scamming, explotation and political nepitism that are the target.

But that's the effect you are going for if we are talking salary caps or huge increases in the income tax or death taxes or any other redistribution scheme. Don't you see history replaying itself with this 1% nonsense? Look up the Kulak class and what happened to them. Like "the 1%" they were made scapegoats and a focus of class envy and rage to bolster the Bolshevik cause. After they were murdered en mass and all of their property confiscated, the Russian peasant was still just as bad off as he was before except he had a new boss and nothing had changed.